Driving mechanism for cotton-gins.



No. 890,092. FATENTBD JUNE 9, 1908.

- F. PHELPS.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR COTTON ems.

APPLICATION FILED $EPT.Z3.1907= 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES -[NVENTOR No. 890,092. A PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

' F. PHELPS. Y

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR COTTON GINS,

APPLICATION FILED S'EPT.23, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES I z gg ww 1H: NORRIS pzrzns cm, WASHINGTON, o. c

PATENTED JUNBQ, 1908.

I. PHELPS. DRIVING MECHANISM FOR COTTON GINS.

APPLICATION FILED snrr.2a.19o1.

- s sums-sum a WITNESSES: [NVENTOR mamas PETERS co, wAsmn 1o",

UNITED STATES PATENT DFFIGE.

FRANK PHELPS, OF WELLSTON, OKLAHOMA.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR COTTON-GIN S.

Application filed September 23, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK PHELPs, a citizen of the United States, residing atWellston, in the county of Lincoln, Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements. in Driving Mechanism for Cotton- Gins; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to driving mechanism for cotton gins or similar machines.

One object is to provide an improved endless belt-drive and belt-tightener, so arranged as to secure a steady drive of the saws and brush by a constant tight run of the belt and obtain almost a complete lap of the belt on the driven pulleys, thereby achieving certain advantages hereinafter set forth.

Another object is to provide for automatically tightening and loosening a pickerroller drive-belt when the breast is lowered to and raised from ginning position, respectively.

The foregoing and certain incidental objects hereinafter appearing are accomplished by means substantially as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The invention will first be described by reference to said drawings and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a perspective view of a gin to which my improvements are applied, showingpart of the frame work broken away and omitting the endless driving-belt. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken through the supporting frame-work at the right-hand side of the roll-box and'showing the roll-box and the driving mechanism in elevation. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the roll-box looking at the opposite side to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and showing the drive for the picker-roller.

A denotes the fixed frame work of the gin and B designates the roll-box for the seed cotton which is to be ginned, and which contains the breast or grate coaoting with the usual ginning cylinder or saws (not shown). The roll-box F is hinged at b to the frame work. A, adapting said roll-box to be raised to the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3 for the purpose of lifting the breast or grate off the saws.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 9, 1908.

Serial No. 394,127.

C is the shaft or arbor of the ginning cylinder or saws; D is the brush shaft; E is the screw-conveyer shaft; F is the shaft of the picker-roller, located in the roll-box in front of the breast. The shafts C, D and E are journaled in bearings in the fixed frame work of the gin, while the picker-roller shaft F is carried by the roll-box B and is movable therewith when the latter is raised and lowered to and from the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

It may be stated that the invention is applicable to any of the usual types of saw-gins, wherefore it is deemed unnecessary to specifically describe and illustrate the ginning mechanism comprising the saws coacting with the breast or grate and brush for removing the lint from the saws after they have drawn the cotton between the bars of the grate.

In the present illustration the invention is shown embodied in a gin of the general character set forth in my prior U. S. patent, No. 809,131, dated January 2nd, 1906, wherein the brush, instead of being located directly back of the saws, is arranged to act on the rear lower portions of the saws, while above the brush and directly back of the saws is a chamber to receive dust, motes and trash ejected centrifugally from the lint on the saws before reaching the brush; there being a screw conveyer in the trough-like bottom of said chamber for carrying off the accumulated waste matter settling therein as will more fully appear by reference to said patent. This will explain the relative location of the aforesaid shafts C, D and E, it being observed that the conveyer shaft E is behind the saw shaft C, while the brush shaft D is below the conveyer shaft. These exact positions are not, however, essential. At one side of the gin (Figs. 1 and 2), the saw arbor or shaft C is provided with a band-wheel or pulley G, which may be termed the main driven pulley and the brush shaft D is provided with a similar band-wheel or pulley H. These pulleys G and H, lying in the same vertical plane, are engaged by the opposite sides of the endless driving belt J, by which power is communicated from a suitable source, as from the line-shaft of the ginnery. The directions of travel of said belt and rotation of said pulleys are indicated by arrows in the drawings. According to the illustrated arrangement, the line -shaft (not shown), which drives the endless belt, is located below the gin. As shown in Fig. 2, the ongoing or slack run of the belt passes first over a belttightening idle pulley K, which is located near the pulley G and in front of the pulley H said idle pulley K being carried by a lever L adapting the idler to be raised andlow ered for the purpose of vtensioning and slac iening the belt. From said idle pulley K, the

belt maes a loop or reverse curve around the pulley H, thence passes around the larger pulley G, and the off-going tight run of the belt passes from the latterpulley close past the pulley H and to the line-shaft. By this arrangement, the belt-tightening idler being on the slack side of the belt and having a perpendicular movement, and the brush pulley H being engaged. by a loop in the belt be tween the'idler and pulley G, and being arranged near the pulley G and near the off-going run of the belt and between the latter and the idler, there is secured almost a complete lap of the belt on the driven pulleys and a direct drive from the off-going tight side of thebelt, making a highly efficient drive, economizing in power, reducing friction on the bearings and increasing the life of the belts. The arrangement is also simpler and more practicable than the driving mechanisms heretofore employed in this class of machinery. For operating the belt tightening idler K, the horizontally disposed lever L is intermediately fulcrumed at M, and the rear arm of said lever is connected by a link or links N to an arm 0 on the rock-shaft P, shown mounted in the rear of the frame A. Said rock-shaft P is provided with an operating lever arm Q, shown as a forwardly extending treadle and having a catch co-acting with a segmental rack R on the side of the frame A,

for locking the belt tightener in desired position. The parts here referred to are shown in Fig. 1, and the treadle or operating lever arm Q and rack R are indicated by dash lines in Fig. 2.

Referring to the fulcrum M of the leverL, the said fulcrum has its bearing at one side of the lever in a 'fiXed bearing m and at. the opposite side of said. lever the fulcrum has a vertically adjustable bearing m (shown in Fig. 2), the sliding bearing m worl'ing in a guideway therefor in the casting m and being engaged by top and bottom tap-screws m and m for adjusting the bearing up and down. This adjustment permits raising and lowering one side of the idler K relative to the other side, whereby the belt J can be properly trained on the idler.

The conveyer shaft E is driven from the saw shaft C by means of an endless belt S engaging a pulley T on said shaft E, said belt S passing around a pulley on the saw shaft and around an idle pulley U behind the pulley T. Said idle pulley U is carried by a hinged arm or bracket u, actuated by a spring a to hold the idler in position for keeping the belt S tight on the pulley T. The picker-roller F is also driven from the saw shaft C, preferably at the opposite side of the gin, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and as shown in full lines in Fig. 3. An endless belt V is shown passing around a pulley on the saw shaft and around a pulley X on the picker-roller shaft. The upper and lower runs of said belt D pass, respectively, over idle pulleys Y and Z, which are off-set at a substantial dis- 5 tance above the line of centers of the shafts C and F. The arrangement is such that the belt is tight when the roll-box is down'in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3. Hence when the roll-box is lifted to dotted line position. carrying the picker-roller therewith, the belt is automatically slackened owing to the diminution of the distances between the pulleys Y, Z and pulley X. When the roll-box is lowered, the belt immediately becomes 5 tightened again. Thus the operation of the picker-roller, in a hulling gin, is automatically discontinued and resumed when the breast is raised. from and lowered to ginning position,?.'. that is, position for co-action of the breast and saws, the breast being removed from the saws when raised to inoperative position. The pulley Z is shown carried by an arm or bracket 2 mounted on the fixed frame work A of the machine, and adjustable up and down by means of the hand-nut 2 By loosening the handnut .2 the bracket 2 can be raised to tighten the belt V. The pulleyY is carried by an arm 11] pivotally mounted on the arm 22 and a tension spring g bears upon the. lever arm 1], thereby holding the pulley Y yieldingly in its normal position and maintaining an even tension on the belt.

In this specification and claims, the words a pulley and belt are respectively to be construed as including any equivalent form of band-wheel and. driving-band.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesf. E

1. The combination of the larger driven pulley G, an endless driving belt engaging said pulley, the smaller driven pulley H e11- gaged by a loop or reverse curve of the ongoing run of said belt, and a belt-tightening. idler engaging the on-going run of said belt in advance of said pulley H, the latter pulley being located near the main pulley G and near the off-going run of the belt and between the latter and idler, thereby providing nearly a complete lap of the belt around the driven pulleys.

2. The combination of' the main driven pulley G, an endless driving belt engaging the same, a belt-tightening idler 'below said pulley engaging the on-going slack run of the belt, the pulley .H engaged by a loop or reverse curve of the belt between said idler and pulley G, a horizontally-(lisposed inter- .mediately-fulcrumed lever whose one arm carries said idler, a rock-shaft having an arm connected by a link or links with the opposite arm of said lever for moving the latter up and down, and a lever-arm rigid with said. rock shaft for operating the latter, and means for holding said lever-arm in position.

The combination with the endless driving belt and pulley driven thereby, of the belt-tightening idler, a lever carrying said idler and adapted to move the same for tightening or slackening the belt, the fulcrum of said lever having a fixed bearing at one side and an adjustable bearing at the other side for adjusting the idler to train the belt thereon.

4. The combination of the saw-shaft, the hinged roll-box adapted to be raised and lowered relative to the saw-shaft, a pickerroller therein carried by and movable with the roll-box, an endless driving belt passing around pulleys therefor on the saw-shaft and picker-roller shaft, and tension-pulleys offset above the line of centers of said shafts over which the runs of said belt pass, whereby the belt is automatically tightened when the rollboX is lowered and automatically slackened when the roll-box is raised, an adjustable bracket supporting the lower tension-pulley, and a spring-pressed lever-arm supported by said bracket and supporting the upper tension-pulley, the spring-pressure preserving an even tension on the belt.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK PHELPS.

l/Vitnesses I O. A. THOMAS, JOHN T. HoovER. 

